USAToday toady LIARS blames BushLIAR credit-card bankruptcy spending, on Social Security and Medicare. Yeah, and the super-cyclones and hellfury-hurricanes are caused by all those huge-windmill, electricity-generating, wind farms.

Another mass media nazi mouthpiece: BOYCOTT fascist massmind media.

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Yet, as for "...so much harm to America, it's hard to know where to start," there is a new book out with the best comprehending overview of the gestalt, so far. An epic, written by a hero.

Book Review - Chalmers Johnson on Our ‘Managed Democracy’, Posted on May 15, 2008

It is not news that the United States is in great trouble.
The pre-emptive war it launched ...
Our economy has been hollowed out by excessive military spending ...
Our political system of checks and balances has been virtually destroyed ...
We have allowed our elections, the one nonnegotiable institution in a democracy, to be debased and hijacked ...
We now engage in torture of defenseless prisoners ...

The problem is that there are too many things going wrong at the same time for anyone to have a broad understanding of the disaster that has overcome us and what, if anything, can be done to return our country to constitutional government and at least a degree of democracy. By now, there are hundreds of books on particular aspects of our situation .... There are, however, a few attempts at more complex analyses of how we arrived at this sorry state.

We now have a new, comprehensive diagnosis of our failings as a democratic polity by one of our most seasoned and respected political philosophers. For well over two generations, Sheldon Wolin taught the history of political philosophy from Plato to the present to Berkeley and Princeton graduate students (including me; I took his seminars at Berkeley in the late 1950s, thus influencing my approach to political science ever since). He is the author of the prize-winning classic “Politics and Vision” (1960; expanded edition, 2006) and “Tocqueville Between Two Worlds” (2001), among many other works.

His new book, “Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism,” is a devastating critique of the contemporary government of the United States—including what has happened to it in recent years and what must be done if it is not to disappear into history along with its classic totalitarian predecessors: Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Bolshevik Russia. The hour is very late and the possibility that the American people might pay attention to what is wrong and take the difficult steps to avoid a national Götterdämmerung are remote, but Wolin’s is the best analysis of why the presidential election of 2008 probably will not do anything to mitigate our fate.

And It's all done by design. Endless war for endless profit, the collapsing economy, the goose step into fascism - it's a cold, calculating, murderous agenda with the entire government either participating or enabling it.

Yeah, and life was so great under Jimmy Carter. Not. Try 11 percent unemployment in Oregon. Try 10 percent plus inflation - still based on government bureaucrats. Try I'll just talk the Iranians into giving back our hostages, getting instead the Iranians thumbing their noses at the one term president. If McCain is Bush III, Obama is Carter II.

Obama's no JFK either. With Obama it's ask what government can do for you, not what you can do for your country.

He does look hansom, though.

The USA Today article highlighted unfunded liabilities for the untouchable entitlements-
• Medicare: $1.2 trillion.

• Social Security: $900 billion.

• Civil servant retirement: $106 billion.

• Veteran benefits: $34 billion.

The top two- Medicare and Social Security- represent $2.1 trillion that no one wants to touch. Not Republicans. Not Democrats. No one. You can't blame Bush for this one unless you blame every single congressional leader since 1932.

$2.5 trillion in unfunded liability. This is the cost of socialism. And the Democrats want to add universal health care? If you like free health care now, wait until you get the bill.

CBO has determined that universal health care is budget neutral to positive. You can look it up.

Whenever Obama or McCain can come up with an answer for energy independence )please something real besides solar cells and windmills) or fixing social security (maybe now people realize it has few problems in addition to being the worst retirement vehicle ever for anyone under 50), I'll listen and vote.

Yes, I understand Bush is an idiot and screwed things up, lets focus on fixing them.

Ok...so explain this to me:

"The federal government's long-term financial obligations grew by $2.5 trillion last year, a reflection of the mushrooming cost of Medicare and Social Security benefits as more baby boomers reach retirement."

So is it Bush's fault because he didn't draft all of the baby-boomers to go to Iraq to fall on IED's to ensure they couldn't collect their benefits?

This is pretty good Jack. Now you're blaming Dubya for the predicted exploding costs of social programs his Democratic predecessors enacted. And of course, that immediately translates to blaming McCain (4 more yrs of Bush) for it....even though he is the only candidate left that champions reducing government spending.

Going to be a fun race....

The war ruined the American economy. At least Cheney made out, though.

Butch,

There is no ill in this country that Bush/Cheney/Rove/Rice/et al have NOT been blamed for, either directly or indirectly.

Lucid, fact-based reasoning is not a tenet of lib thinking. Just look at the first post above for a great example of what I'm saying.

""long-term financial obligations grew by $2.5 trillion last year, a reflection of the mushrooming cost of Medicare and Social Security benefits as more baby boomers reach retirement.""

Yeah how is this Bush's doing?

Next you'll be blaming Bush for the CoP debt crisis.

Now wasn't that a little bit funny?

Nice logic, fellas: Some people accuse Bush of things that aren't his fault. Therefore, he was a good President, and we should stick with the Republican Party.

That's the kind of dopiness that got Frat Boy elected in the first place. It was a wonderful moment for the selfish and stupid among us, but it's over.

The lion's share of that liability increase is generated by Medicare.

Bush is the one who pushed through the new Medicare prescription drug program ("Part D") in advance of the 2004 election in order to pander to elderly voters (in Florida). This was a far more costly repeat of a stunt that Nixon successfully pulled off when he increased Social Security benefits in 1972 in order to win re-election.

The Bush administration squelched the Medicare actuary's cost estimate of adding the new program, keeping important financial information away from Congress (the 10-year cost estimates provided by the administration to Congress at the time of consideration were $100bn less than actual projections by Medicare's actuaries).

So, yes, I think it's safe to say that the huge increase in Medicare liabilities is (mostly) Bush's fault (although he does have a reluctantly compliant Congress with which he can share the blame -- but as I recall he had to twist some Republican arms pretty hard, and they had to bend House rules to reopen a vote that had technically closed to git 'er done).

Barry Obama will make the peanut farmer/President look like a genius!

Nice logic, fellas: Some people accuse Bush of things that aren't his fault. Therefore, he was a good President, and we should stick with the Republican Party.

I don't recall such deductions or inferences being made. At least, I'M not the one making them in MY comments. Don't you know it isn't nice to put words in peoples' mouths?

Heck, I'm still waiting to hear about Obama's accomplishments from the past Bush-blame post's comments.

I'm still waiting to hear about Obama's accomplishments

You'll be waiting a while. No one really cares. He got himself elected to the United States Senate, and his father had nothing to do with it. That and his background and his middle name are good enough for many of us.

Since you don't have a functioning political party any more, you've got time on your hands to look the man's record up for yourself.

After you clean your gun.

Gerry, I'd say if you're living in a nation of 304 million and you're one of 3 people who has a chance to be the next leader, you've accomplished a hell of a lot.
For starters that makes you 1 in 100 million.

Seems that logic would include anyone in that position in their campaign, wouldnt it Bill? Kinda like Dubya..err "Chimpy" (when in Rome) .. except he ended up one of two.

Bush proves that in this country, if you're father's well connected, you can be a complete knucklehead and still get a top job. Happens all the time, all over the United States.

The firms you run into the ground don't do very well, though.

I'm still waiting to hear about Obama's accomplishments

Pay attention: He beat the Clintons.
But don't just give him credit for that; be sure to also add it to the compendium of Republican failures. It's not like they didn't have enough time or ammunition. Just like Iraq. Just like everything else. What a bunch of losers.

Give them credit. They did get rid of Edwards, whom they were the most afraid of. But without Hillary to turn people off, they know they don't have much left. And with McCain out there actually telling the truth about what he thinks, they know they're toast. The race thing will help a little, but nowhere near enough.

I think I had a big personal breakthrough in my last comment. See the gap before my name? That's the part where I wrote what I really thought and then erased it.
Leno had a good one on tonight. It wasn't mine but when you get schooled you get schooled. He said after the big rally here Sunday Barack served the entire crowd of 75,000 with just a few loaves and fishes. You gotta love it.

Barack served the entire crowd of 75,000 with just a few loaves and fishes.

Just keeping up with the Joneses.

What scares me is I'm losing my sense of humor. Maybe it's just natural aging but I believe these times are wearing me out. When something is brilliant comedically, I recognize it but not in the same way. The other strong one lately was Letterman talking about Hillary being 21 million in debt. He said she's now attending the world's most expensive fantasy camp.
That is a brilliant line if ever there was one.

I don't care about Bush, or the Clintstones, or rich fathers (Bush or Kennedy), or about the fact that Obama is the chosen one in 100 million.

Like I said, the man seems to have a lot of supporters, and I appreciate that. However, there also seems to be little "hard data" about him that would preclude an intelligent decision as to vote for him.

Has anyone ever been a hiring manager? Did you hire him/her because you "had faith" and "hope" that they would be a good hire? A "gut feeling" from how they looked and talked that that person was the right person?

Did you not do at least some level of due diligence, as in reading their resume, checking background references, Googling them up, or SOMETHING? I think that is standard operating/hiring procedure for most situations.

Why is this level of scrutiny not being applied here (particularly with the so-called "disaster" you same libs have been wailing so woefully about over the past seven years? Do we not learn from our mistakes?

Who is asking the hard questions?

My guns (yes, all of them) are clean, very safe, and ready if they are needed to defend.

What scares me is I'm losing my sense of humor.

-----------

Don't worry Bill, you'll get it back soon enough after a double-whammy of a Sam Adams-led CoP / People's Republic of Oregon and Federal tax increases from a Democratic-led Congress and Presidency.

At least we won't have to deal with the war in Iraq any longer, as President-elect Obama has indicated troops will be coming home within 60 days. And thus, after the border fences are torn down, the real "war" will be brought back here to OUR soil.

Gerry,
This is standard blog stuff: You incorrectly describe what has happened and then argue against it.
You act like Obama fans heard the words "Hope and faith" and made their decision based on that alone. You wonder why there wasn't at least some level of due diligence done here. You even use big letters to emphasize that SOMETHING should have been done.
Behind it all it's obvious that you are very proud that you are or were once a hiring manager. If you need time to discuss that, go ahead. We all should be proud of what we've accomplished. Maybe that's it - you're trying to work in what you've accomplished and that's fine.
But I doubt if you are a trial lawyer because the case you make is without merit. Yes, it would be crazy to vote for someone based on the phrase "hope and faith." I'll agree with you on that.
If that is what had happened here, you'd have one terrific point, but it isn't.
I went to 3 Obama events - two of them I got press passes for and videotaped the speeches with my camera. I suppose to a hiring manager that would be like a job interview. Oh, and by the way, Obama didn't just come out and say "hope and faith" and leave. If he had you would have a brilliant point. As it is you're doing a standard blog move and the reason that people haven't gotten too excited about responding is because it's trite.
Let me put it in your terms: If I was a hiring manager and you presented this argument in a job interview, I wouldn't hire you, and I don't care how long your list of accomplishments is.

I think most of the posters here missed the real point of the article. While last year's growth in the unfunded liability was $2.5 TRILLION, the total unfunded liability at the federal level is $57.3 TRILLION. Bear in mind the annual GDP of the US is around $14 trillion.

While it's true that much of the added unfunded liability last year is due to Part D, the total has been accumulating under both Ds and Rs for the last half-century. Medicare has much bigger near term problems than SS, but you don't hear ANY of the candidates talking, nor any of the media asking questions about the size of this problem.

While the government can crank up the money printing press to make these obligations "cheaper" in the future, that comes with a price no one really wants to pay - inflation at a rate that will make all of us poorer.

But where will your mental state be when Obama loses?

Either in November or should Hillary steal the nomination?

Pretending that Obama losing is an impossible outcome seems a bit off.

Bill,

I appreciate your nice, polite attempts at personal put-downs. However your assumptions about my pride and my professional life are just as wrong and misguided as you claim my logic to be.

Perhaps that's an area where you shouldn't go, becuase you've already started digging a big hole for yourself. Don't make personal assumptiions about me, my personality or my motives until you meet me.

As I've said all along, I'm completely open to vote for Mr. Obama if I can get my arms around how and why he's supremely qualified for the job. By qualified, I mean the Webster's view of the word: "having the qualities, accomplishments, etc., that fit a person for some function, office, or the like."

Trite or not, I've not yet seen a compelling statement here by anyone as to why.

Howard,
Great point. Yes, pretending that Obama losing is an impossible outcome seems a bit off. You're right about that. It's a terrific point. And I think I even know who you're talking about.
Gerry wrote, "This election is absolutely a non-starter. It's over before it's started -- it belongs to the Democrats and Obama."
Uh oh, Howard's clearly talking about you, Gerry. I'm certainly not assuming anything about Obama winning. I don't even assume this election will happen. Not with the craven group we have in power right now.
Hey, maybe Gerry should hire Howard to talk him out of his extreme certainty that Obama will win. No one wants to be a bit off.

Okay, that appeared ruder than it was meant to be. I wasn't ignoring your comment, Gerry. I didn't see it there when I was writing Howard back.
For the past 2 days you've been on Obama supporters in a way which I found insulting. Obviously, we both know if someone walks into a job interview and says he's a United States Senator, that's going to count for something. I mean it's the most exclusive club in the world, right?
I would ask, "How did you get into the Senate? Did your Dad get in before you like Al Gore? What? You did this on your own? That is impressive."
I am grateful to you Gerry for not doing what others do on blogs. After a couple of days of asking a question some would say, "See! I told you you couldn't answer that. You have nothing."
You didn't do that, Gerry and that distinguished you in the blogosphere.
However, after insulting Obama supporters for not doing a single thing to check him out prior to voting for him, I wrote back that I had. I've watched this campaign. I've seen how he handles attacks from the other side. Just yesterday he tangled with McCain on Iran and I thought he did great. I believe what he says - that Iran is stronger now because of the Iraq War.
When Barack said at the Memorial Coliseum that he was tired of a president who doesn't believe in science, that was exactly how I felt. Part of supporting Obama for me is that he says things that I agree with. I also believe he says them with more conviction than President Bush.
The reason for that is not just because he is smarter than President Bush - I think it's because Bush is so busy trying to keep the many lies in his head straight, that it's a miracle he can speak at all.
Now in replying I clearly pissed you off and I'm sorry for that. I admit it was my intent to do that, and I should try to rise above that sort of thing.
So I apologize, but if you're going to insult people for two days you shouldn't be surprised if they try to insult you back. Sorry about that. I guess I should be more sensitive.

It's pretty sad to have to resort to continual personal put-downs (however harmless or good-natured they may seem) to make a point, taking the place of a reasonable discussion, or expression of opinion.

Why don't you lay off the personal jibes? Have I gotten under your skin THAT much with my continual asking of the same, seemingly simple question?

The guys at INTC have figured out elections with mathematical certainty. However, 2/3 of INTC managers have calculated that Obama will certainly win and believe that right-wing talk radio is a waste of time.

How does Intel play into this election?

They are a high-volume, high-precision transistor manufacturing company, not a polling or elective prediction house !

"I don't even assume this election will happen. Not with the craven group we have in power right now.,,,,, No one wants to be a bit off."

Bill, my friend from the other side, that was a bit off.

How about the fact that Obama has built a high functioning and successful organization from scratch?
Is that not a significant accomplishment?

You tell me.

Is the ability to create an extensive, motivated network of campaign volunteers and paid staff a good pre-qualifier for the highest office in the land?

Is it a legislative or public service accomplishment that showcases the candidate's vision, ability to forge strong and enduring political relationships across party lines, ability to get things done in difficult circumstances, ability to make tough decisions that may not be politically expedient or acceptable even by his/her base supporters, ability to "stick it out" when times are tough, etc.?

Gerry Van Zandt 9:05 AM: "Have I gotten under your skin ...?" No.

You've gotten into your irrelevancy as stooge racist ... in the dump where skin-obsessed haters mostly land.

Is it true you are a reputed lawyer? In two days and one tantrum, you sure blew that career and all its wasted years.

If it'll make you feel any better, or even if it doesn't but if it'll shut you up, we'll let you color in your ballot bubble with a white pencil. How's that work for ya'?

LOL.

Thank you for a great laugh.

Gerry Van Zandt (Esq?)

You're welcome. Now get back in your ballot bubble.

Tensky, so if someone is critical of a person with African ancestry, it automatically makes them racist?

I guess in your book, if Gerry was black, that'd make him an Uncle Tom.

Are you so obsessed with race that you can't help but bring it into a thread where it never existed before? Talk about racist.

It's people like you who give liberals a bad name.

The question that's been burning in my head, is whether Tenty and Torridjoe are two sides of the same coin ...

By the way Tenty, your line of reasoning would also indicate that anyone who doesn't support Sam Adams' candidacy is guilty of homophobia.

Right?

Bush and Cheney have been blamed for everything from hurricanes to earthquakes to high gas prices and, judging by today's Washington Post, obesity. Pretty good for someone that's supposed to be an idiot.

Enjoy yourself while you can, Obama is likely to be elected President and if he is, you won't be able to criticize him without being labeled a racist.

That mean that your Bush-bashing will be able to continue for as long as he is President. While everything that happened during the Bush administration was his fault from the minute he took the oath of office, conversely, everything bad that happens during the Obama administration will still be George W. Bush's fault.

No reporter or editor in the news media will dare cast any aspersions on Barack's ability or that of any of his Cabinet officials. Not if they want to keep working anyhow.

... maybe review where who started talking about 'getting under readers' skin' ...

---
Still, the main thing is:
The Chimp and his overlords have done so much harm to America, it's hard to know where to start. ... to administer remedy.
But here's a good enough place to begin. And on this score, John McCain is just another Bush: Repeat emphatically: McCain =equals= Bushbutcher

Another crossfire has an 'X' on the point that Bushbutcher Chimp even has overlords. Much fascist LIARS media cover-up complicity, yet much plainfolks political mo' and many facts accumulating, weight the odds on betting Karl Rogue is going to prison. Yawn, another fearmongering racist to his just desserts.

Alas, Tensky refrains from addressing critics by not only contending the word "skin" is codeword for a racist epithet, he cowers behind a kook-lefty website.

Sad, but not surprising.

"Bush and Cheney have been blamed for everything from hurricanes to earthquakes to high gas prices and, judging by today's Washington Post, obesity. Pretty good for someone that's supposed to be an idiot."

I'm so sick of this right wing talking point, which rests on the absurd premise that "idiocy" and "malevolence" are somehow mutually exclusive.

Bush is a useful and deliberate idiot.

The loss of New Orleans in 2005, among the countless other unprecedented travesties, was the result of criminal negligence and yes idiocy by Bush.

"Enjoy yourself while you can, Obama is likely to be elected President and if he is, you won't be able to criticize him without being labeled a racist."

No, you can't criticize Alberto Gonzalez or Condi Rice w/o Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity labeling you racist. That's the GOP's dishonest debate tactic to avoid a substantial discussion, not any liberal pundit's.

"While everything that happened during the Bush administration was his fault from the minute he took the oath of office, conversely, everything bad that happens during the Obama administration will still be George W. Bush's fault."

You are describing Fox News and Karl Rove's strategy of defending GWB's outrages by blaming Clinton perfectly. Right wingers' capacity for "projection" without irony is jaw-dropping.

You are also, weirdly, complaining about purely hypothetical and imaginary media behavior. Do you have some magical power to see into the future?

Has the dem controlled house and senate have no blame at all? The last time I looked the house and senate have to pass ALL spending bills.

"Has the dem controlled house and senate have no blame at all?"

Not for 2001-2006, they don't because the GOP controlled the house and senate then.

This is like arm-wrestling two-year-olds.

Sam,

You should stick to tiddlywinks with the two-year-olds. The Democrat run congress is currently enjoying ratings of 18% approve, 76% disapprove.

But Butch, the low approval rating is ALSO attributable to Bush and Cheney. Don't you know there is no ill in this world for which they are not directly or indirectly at fault for causing?

Yeah Sam, that's the way...keep the faith. You Dems were blatantly lied to by Nancy Pelosi et al in order to get elected. They've done nothing to end the war, improve public education, repeal the Patriot act, end corruption, close Guatanamo etc. etc.

But hey, there's still two years left...

"The Democrat run congress is currently enjoying ratings of 18% approve, 76% disapprove."

And they deserve it because they have continued to pay for Bush's Iraq occupation on a credit card and have caved in to Bush consistently on issue after issue since taking over.

But the GOP controlled Congress from 2001 to 2006 was worse and even more useless as an oversight body that is supposed to check and balance the excesses of this most excessive executive.

No, you can't criticize Alberto Gonzalez or Condi Rice w/o Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity labeling you racist.

So you named the three biggest loons in right-wing media. Who cares what they think? The difference is, when you question Obama, you get called racist by everyone- from the genuflecting sheep to the looney left like the Daily Kos.

"So you named the three biggest loons in right-wing media. Who cares what they think?"

Their millions of listeners, readers and viewers.

You're right they're loonies, but your attempt to marginalize them as fringe people no one pays attention to is absurd.

Daily Kos is on over 600 radio stations, a best selling author and has a daily perch on Fox News?

And when has Daily Kos called someone a racist for questioning Obama?

And when has Daily Kos called someone a racist for questioning Obama?

Ahem...

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/30012_Daily_Kos-_The_New_Improved_Southern_Strategy

Oh, and this was real classy:

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/29924_The_Protocols_of_the_Daily_Kos

O'Reilly compared Moulitsas to white supremacist ... During the May 14 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly compared Markos Moulitsas, founder of the progressive Daily Kos blog, to white supremacist David Duke and criticized Newsweek for its decision to hire Moulitsas as a regular contributor, stating: "And Newsweek magazine, by the way, has legitimized him by giving him a columnist position. I talked to the editor by email, and I said I can't believe that you're -- that's like hiring David Duke. Again, I use Duke too much, but I have to -- the level of hatred coming out of that website is unprecedented." O'Reilly later claimed that Newsweek's decision caused him to "cancel[] my subscription." O'Reilly stated: "I canceled my subscription -- I still get it at work -- to Newsweek magazine because of that. And I think everybody else should, as well," explaining: "[O]nce you start to hire a guy like this Kos guy and you're legitimizing that, then I'm out. I'm completely out. I don't want anything to do with you or your publication."

As Media Matters for America has documented, O'Reilly has repeatedly attacked Daily Kos ....